For children, everything exists in the present, in the here and now. They are utterly free from regrets about the past and pressures about the future. Escaping the snare of time, they are souls who live only in this place, at this moment. They play wherever they happen to be, eat what is set before them, cling to nothing, and let the waves carry them along. Such drifting might seem full of disorder and boredom, but it is nothing of the sort. Rather, it overflows with an almost groundless confidence and flexibility.
I wonder whether we, too, need something of this attitude toward life. Constantly regretting and fearing things without knowing where our fears will lead, we are simply too exhausted to live in the present. Yet those who live in the past cannot move forward, and those who live in the future become, paradoxically, more distant from their ideals. Sometimes, then, it may be better to focus neither too far behind nor too far ahead, but simply on where we are. We can accept what is given and live our lives within it. This is not to say that we should stop moving forward. Rather, like children at their most innocent, we sometimes need to accept the present as it is. Denying reality breeds empty fantasies, while embracing it too unquestioningly breeds complacency.
So perhaps it is all right to live with a somewhat shorter horizon. When you are exhausted, it is fine to stop for a while, even to do nothing but lie down. Free yourself from what binds you. Rejoice and delight in things as innocently as children do. We must live in the present, just as it is.